Battle of Ray (651) - Misplaced Pages

651 CE battle between the Rashidun Caliphate and Sasanian Empire Not to be confused with Battle of Ray (811), a battle fought between the armies of Al-Amin and Al-Ma'mun during the Fourth Fitna.

Battle of Ray

Part of Islamic conquest of Persia

Picture of the Ray Castle, constructed under the Parthian Empire, the kinsmen of the Mihran family.

Date	651
Location	Ray, Iran
Result	Muslim-Ispahbudhan victory

Belligerents

Rashidun Caliphate
House of Ispahbudhan

Sasanian Empire
House of Mihran

Commanders and leaders

Al-Nu'man ibn Muqrin
Farrukhzad

Siyavakhsh †

Strength

Unknown

Casualties and losses

Low

Heavy

v t e Muslim conquest of Persia
Mesopotamia Chains River Walaja Ullais Hira Al-Anbar Ayn al-Tamr Husayd Muzayyah Saniyy Zumail Firaz 1st Babylon Namaraq Kaskar Bridge Buwaib al-Qādisiyyah Burs 2nd Babylon Ctesiphon Jalula Khuzestan Shushtar Gundishapur Bayrudh Central Persia Nahavand Spahan Waj Rudh Ray Caucasus Azerbaijan Armenia Albania Iberia Derbent Pars Bishapur Estakhr Khorasan Oxus River Nishapur Herat Badghis Other geographies Northern Persia Kerman Sakastan

Muslim conquest
of Persia

Mesopotamia

Khuzestan

Central Persia

Caucasus

Pars

Khorasan

Other geographies

The Battle of Ray was fought between the Sasanians and the Rashidun Caliphate in 651. It was also part of the rivalry between the Ispahbudhan family and the Mihran family.

Background

In 642/643, the Muslim Arabs had conquered Media, and continued to penetrate into the Iranian plateau. In 651, Farrukhzad, the spahbed of Khorasan, and minister of Yazdegerd III, mutinied and left for Tabaristan. On his way to Tabaristan, he met the Arab general Nu'aym near Qazvin, and made peace with him. He then agreed to aid the Arabs against his rival Siyavakhsh, who had murdered his father in 631.

Battle

The combined Ispahbudhan-Arab army engaged in a night battle against Siyavakhsh's army at the foot of the mountain just outside Ray. Farrukhzad led some of Nu'aim's cavalry by a little-known route into the city, from whence they emerged to attack the defenders' rear, causing great slaughter. To set an example, Nu'aym ordered the destruction of the Old Town, which called "al-Atiqah" by the Arabs, (perhaps the aristocratic quarter of Ray). However, the town was later rebuilt by Farrukhzad, whom became the ruler of Ray.

References

Pourshariati (2008), pp. 469
Pourshariati (2008), pp. 251
Pourshariati (2008), pp. 206
Pourshariati (2008), pp. 252

Sources

Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008). Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.

This article about a battle in Iranian history is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: